Back at my Couchsurfing host’s flat, we spent hours chatting about a lot of things, looking at our photos taken during the trip and drinking Belgian beer (well, them at least). We finally ended at 1am, and since I plan on leaving the flat early to explore Hong Kong Island on my own, I bade them goodbye.

Sayuri and her new friends. The small plush toys were the Belgian’s travel gnome. The bear has a backpack that a friend of theirs hand made for them, which has the logo of Antwerp, their home city.

Despite the exhaustion I felt from not having enough sleep and hiking the Wilson Trail, I still had a hard time falling asleep. I watched one episode of Yamato Nadeshiko Shichihenge on my laptop before finally dozing off at 2am. My alarm woke me up at 6am, and after a couple of snooze, I dragged myself out of bed to get ready. Dressed and packed, I tidied up my bed, as courtesy to my hose and made my way out of the apartment.

It was a Monday, the start of the work and school week. However, since it’s still pretty early, the streets are pretty empty. The trains were a different story though. The trains were frequent in Hong Kong, and if you miss one, another one will come along within minutes. The trains were full, but not jam packed as the MRT in Manila during rush hour. Inside the station, there’s a sea of people as each train arrive to deliver a fresh batch of students and employees making their way up to the street level or to the other train line.

I was baffled by so many Pocky flavors!

I plodded along, weighted down by my backpack, laptop bag and my sleep deprivation. I was sometimes forced to walk fast because everybody around me was hurrying, but as soon as it cleared, I just took a pleasant stroll around the station. I was looking for breakfast places, but at 7am, there aren’t many open save for convenience stores like 7-11 and Circle K. I mentally kicked myself for not going to the roast place I saw near my host’s house the previous day, because I found myself wandering aimlessly at Causeway Bay.

There’s plenty of maps in Hong Kong. You can get them for free at the airport, and there are maps inside the MTR station. Though I made it out the correct exit, I was still unable to get my bearings once I was on the street level. I walked and walked and walked, until I saw this Chinese dimsum place that’s almost full with patrons. It was a pretty good sign that the place serves good food, but I hesitated. All the signs were in Cantonese, and I’m rather apprehensive about ordering something I know nothing about. I’m all for being adventurous, but I didn’t think I was in the right state of mind for anything exotic.

My only photo of Causeway Bay. Sad.

I continued walking and realizing that I’m running out of time, I resignedly walked back to the McDonald’s I snootily passed before. In the spirit of being adventurous, I passed on my favorite Sausage Mcmuffin for a bowl of noodle soup. It was… okay. Not exactly something I’d order again. I hurried back to the MTR station to catch the train back to the airport. From Causeway Bay, I took the train to Central station, attempted to find the train on the Tung Chung line. There’s no shortage of signs inside the HK MTR stations, but in my disorganized state, I missed the stairs going down to the trains and ended up going OUT the station *facepalm* I ended up using up the last credit on my Octopus card and had to buy a single ride ticket from the vending machine. I told myself to be more alert, and got on the correct train… only to go down one-stop short of Tsing Yi. Moral of the story: be sure to get enough sleep when you’re going to wander about with your backpack, specially if you have a plane to catch!

Soon enough I was once again inside the Airport Express, making my way to HKIA. I was sitting on the other side of the LCD screen, and was barely paying attention to what was showing in the screen. I was just barely able to catch the listing of airlines for each terminal. At the airport, the train doors open on both sides, one going to Terminal 1, the other to Terminal 2. I went out to Terminal 1, and upon entering, I saw that Philippine Airlines is at Terminal 2. Meh.

Inside the HKIA passenger terminal

Going to the other terminal was easy enough. Like the MTR stations, there are lots of signs inside the airport, so it’s pretty hard to get lost inside the massive buildings. There were hardly any lines at the check-in counter and I was able to get my boarding pass in less than five minutes. It was rather disconcerting when I saw T1 scrawled right next to my gate number on the boarding pass.

I checked out some shops, looking for souvenirs to take home to my family, since I hardly bought anything when I was still in the city. What I liked about HKIA is that there’s plenty of seats so you can rest while exploring the huge airport. I followed the signs to the gate, and to my surprise, it took me to another train, which would take me back to Terminal 1, where all the planes are.

As I was meandering along the walkway leading to Gate 80, I kept looking around, wondering if I’ll see another passenger throwing a hissy fit because she wasn’t able to make it to her plane on time. There was none. Pfft. The waiting area was big, and I heard from friends that there’s free wifi in the airport. Though there were already plenty of passengers waiting for the plane to allow us to board, I was still able to find a seat and hurriedly took out my laptop. Ironically, as soon as I logged in to XP, the gate opened. I shut down my computer and sent of a quick text to my mother that I’m boarding the plane already.

Philippine Airlines inflight meal

It was another Boeing 747-400, but sadly, it wasn’t one of the newly refurbished ones. Boarding was fast — like the flight to Hong Kong, it wasn’t even half full. Though all the passengers were all boarded in the aircraft, we still had to wait for our set departure time to get the permission for air traffic control. In no time, we were up in the air. I didn’t like the show on the video screens, so I contented myself with reading the newspaper and the Mabuhay inflight magazine. Since I don’t really read the newspaper and I find reading magazines a bit of a bore, I was left with nothing to do in no time. It was a good thing the flight was nearly empty, so I was able to stretch out in my row and doze all the way to Manila.

First foggy view of HK

We filed out the 747, and the fact that I’m in another country hits me. The signs and the advertisements were in Chinese and English. All around me, people are speaking several different languages. Hong Kong International Airport is HUGE. It’s easy to get lost inside, but there are plenty of signs to point you the way to the rest rooms, the immigration booths, the trains, etc. Also, there’s a tourist booth with plenty of information and maps for Hong Kong first timers.

I change my sole US$100 at the first foreign exchange counter I see. I know I can get better rates in the city, but I don’t have any smaller currency that I can exchange. As I made my way to the immigration counters, I notice a sign listing items that isn’t allowed to be brought into Hong Kong. The last item on the list made me laugh inwardly: counterfeit and pirated goods.

It’s hard to get lost inside the HK Airport

After breezing through immigration, I spy the Octopus Card booth. Kaoko lent me her MTR card, so I didn’t have to buy a card. I just topped it up with HK$100 to be used on trains, busses and convenience stores. I also bought a round trip Airport Express ticket to Tsing Yi. Kowloon is station is closer to Olympic (where I’m getting off), but upon my CS host’s instructions, I opted for Tsing Yi because it’s cheaper by HK$40. The MTR card can only be paid by cash, but you can use your credit card for buying the Airport Express tickets.

I went out the airport and followed the signs to the trains to the city. There was a sign counting down the minutes until the next train, and I get to the platform just as the train was pulling in. The Hong Kong airport express train was big and roomy. Maybe I’m just traveling in the off season, but the train wasn’t packed and there was plenty of empty rows. Within minutes, the train was pulling out of the station and we were on our way to the city.

Inside the HK Airport Express Train

Hong Kong looked dark and dreary. The whole time I was in the train, I kept hoping that it wouldn’t rain — the clouds looked ominous and it seemed it would pour any minute. It turns out that the weather’s just like that. It’s overcast and misty the entire day, but it doesn’t really rain. In about twenty minutes, the train pulls into the Tsing Yi station. I get off the train and into the station, once again following the signs to the exit. I emerge from the train platform to a lobby that was simply astounding. The interior of the station was not lavish or posh, but it looked classy. There’s no shortage of signs in any of Hong Kong’s train stations. I look at the station’s map to figure out how to go to the platform of the trains going to the city. I ended up even more confused. Good thing there’s an information booth and I was told to go down again to a certain level for the trains.

Another twenty minutes and I was at the Olympic station. I call Vincent, my Couch Surfing host in Hong Kong from a pay phone at the station (his instruction was to ask to use the phone at the customer service booth, but I was gruffly told by the man behind the counter to use the pay phone). He told me to make my way to his apartment, since he can’t leave the apartment, as he’s waiting for the other couple he’s hosting. Thanks to Google Maps, I was able to print a map to his place even before I left Manila.

Foggy view of the Kowloon Skyline

Vincent welcomed me warmly into his apartment. He was genuinely interested in different countries and culture, and he asked a lot of questions about the Philippines. He’s been to the Philippines before, but only on a tour group, so he saw very little of the country. He has an atlas, and we opened the book to a map of the Philippines and I pointed out the places I have been to in map. In turn, he showed me photos of the places he’s been to. He’s traveled to several countries in Europe and Asia, and thanks to Couch Surfing and the Hospitality Club (where he’s also a member of), he was able to keep his travel expenses low.

As he was about to show me the photos he’s taken around Hong Kong, he Belgian couple he’s hosting arrived (he saw them as he looked out the window of his room). The Belgians, Tim and Mandy, just went out for coffee. It took them almost two hours to get back because they were waiting for me at the Olympic station! It turns out that they wanted to surprise me at the station, because they know it feels good when you see people holding a sign with your name on it when you get out of the airport or the train station. Unfortunately, the surprise was me already at Vincent’s flat when they came in.

Bags and art at the Temple Street Night Market

We exchange pleasantries and we headed out to explore Kowloon. Hong Kong weather that time of the year was the same weather we were enjoying back in December and January, only with more wind and fog. We walked to the Olympic station, and took a ride to the Kowloon Station. Like most train stations in HK, the station had plenty of stores and has lots of exits that connect to different streets and buildings. We emerged at the Civic Square and walked to the site of Hong Kong’s future tallest building. The International Commerce Center tower was set to have over 110 floors, and will be the tallest building in Hong Kong upon its completion in 2010. It’s so tall that it just disappears into the fog. The amazing thing about this building is that it’s not yet finished, yet the floors that are already finished are already occupied and operating. We had a foggy view of the buildings across the harbour, and we noticed that there’s a yellow glow in the sky. Vincent explains that because of the thick fog, using yellow lights on the buildings is more practical than white.

We went down to street level and started walking through Kowloon. Vincent took us to Temple Street, where there’s a nightly street market. Like the bazaars in most of Asia, the street is filled with make shift booths filled with every kind of goods that tourists might fancy. There were shops selling souvenirs, art pieces, bags, jewelry, clothes and gears and gadgets. In almost every corner, there are small restaurants where you can eat if all that shopping made you hungry. We finish the market and we walked around the residential areas. I was reminded of Singapore — tall apartment blocks with playgrounds and exercise contraptions. One thing that was startling about Hong Kong was that even though it’s dark, it’s not really dark. Sure, the sky is pitch black, but at the street level, it’s so bright due to the street signs and the lights from all the buildings. It was light pollution, as Tim calls it.

Not-so-busy intersection

We walked and walked and walked and before we know it, we were back in Vincent’s street. Everybody was pooped, but not pooped enough to enjoy some beer. The times that I can actually enjoy beer is few and far in between, so I just popped into the shower. When I got out, I took out my laptop to transfer photos. I also showed them photos from my previous trips, so they can get a glimpse of the Philippines. Unfortunately, I’ve moved some of my photos to my external hard drive to free up space, so I was only able to show them some of the places I’ve been to.

Jumpshot, HK Edition. Mandy, me and Vincent. Photo by Tim Van Dyck

Around midnight, we adjourned, and we set up my mattress on the living room floor (as the Belgians were already occupying Vincent’s guestroom). My head was facing the window and I can still see the bright yellow glow in the sky. I really must bring a sleeping mask next time.